Over the past century, skyscrapers have become the definitive feature of the modern urban landscape, and if you live in a large city, chances are that you work or receive essential services in a high-rise office building.
But while these buildings allow for a much more efficient use of space in North America's large urban areas, they also pose major challenges from a health and safety point of view.
The skyscraper was made possible by the invention of the elevator, and though elevators are on a day-to-day basis an effective means of moving large numbers of people up and down tall buildings, they can become death traps in an emergency. One of the perennial problems of office design has been finding ways to make skyscrapers safer in emergency conditions.
Emergency Evacuations and the Problem of Accessibility
As our buildings have grown taller, they have also grown more accessible. Technologies like the elevator and escalator became essential for ferrying people between floors, but they also made it a lot easier for individuals with limited mobility to navigate spaces that would have been inaccessible to them via staircase.
This has had a profound impact on the lives and livelihoods of a whole range of people, from those who use walking aids or wheelchairs to seniors who have trouble walking long distances.
But it also poses a major challenge around building safety, as these conveyances do not function in an evacuation context. In an emergency, elevators and escalators may be shut down, leaving staircases as the only means of exit.
For this reason, finding ways to handle emergency evacuation for those with limited mobility should be a major concern for any business housed in a high-rise office building.
How Evacuation Chairs Provide a Low-Tech Solution
Fortunately, medical technology has responded to this challenge by creating tools specifically designed to help those with limited mobility evacuate from office buildings when elevators and escalators do not function.
One such tool is the evacuation chair, which helps those with limited mobility quickly and safely negotiate stairs with the help of their teammates. Evacuation chairs can accommodate anyone who would normally rely on an elevator, including:
Pregnant women
Injured people
Seniors
Individuals with physical disabilities
Offices that use Evacuscape stair evacuation chairs are able to quickly and effectively help all employees, clients, and customers to safety in the case of an emergency. And because these chairs can be folded up, they can be stored near at hand even in offices where space is at a premium.
In many ways, dense urban areas are more accessible than they have ever been. But many challenges still remain. Businesses that want to ensure they are doing their part to make their buildings as safe as possible for everyone need to take additional steps to prepare for emergencies
Unobtrusive, rapidly deployable, well-designed evacuation chairs are one of the easiest ways to guarantee that, even when elevators and escalators don't work, those with limited mobility can be helped out of the building in a timely manner.
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